


A Beautiful Sight, We're Happy Tonight

by amine



Series: Gen X and Gen Z [21]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Special, Family Fluff, Gen, Precious Peter Parker, Snow, Snowball Fight, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Has A Heart, so much christmas fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 02:51:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17113055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amine/pseuds/amine
Summary: "Peter let out a sigh and stared out one of the enormous windows in the mansion. 'I now understand why Kevin McCallister wanted to go to New York instead of Florida for Christmas.''...what? Who?'Peter’s cheeks flushed. “From the movie Home Alone. Well, technically he went to New York in Home Alone 2, but you get what I mean, right?'"





	A Beautiful Sight, We're Happy Tonight

After multiple frigid Christmases in New York, Tony is more than happy to spend the holidays in his new mansion in Malibu, enjoying the warmth and sunshine and, of course, the spectacular views.

Made even more spectacular by the addition of May and Peter Parker to the festivities. It had taken some goading, but the prospect of a beach vacation at Christmas had finally been enough for May to agree to come to Malibu to spend Christmas with Tony and Pepper. She and Pepper had spent most of their vacation clad in bikinis and getting some more than well deserved relaxation, and Tony, despite the dirty looks he’d gotten from Peter, had enjoyed _that_ particular view most of all.

Speaking of Peter, though, the kid who usually wouldn’t shut up had been conspicuously quiet ever since he and May had gotten there. Rather than join his aunt on a beach excursion or even join Tony in the lab, he’d mostly stayed in the room Tony had put in especially for him. While it was understandable that Peter would want to spend plenty of time in such an amazing room, it wasn’t like him to keep to himself so much.

He finally caught Peter on his way back from the kitchen, and he placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder to get his attention. Peter jumped a little, and Tony scoffed at how distracted Peter seemed to be.

“You know, when I invited you and your hot aunt to come here, I was imagining bikini views and a beach spider, not the hermit version of Ebenezer Scrooge. What’s the deal, kid?”

Peter let out a sigh and stared out one of the enormous windows in the mansion. “I now understand why Kevin McCallister wanted to go to New York instead of Florida for Christmas.”

“...what? Who?”

Peter’s cheeks flushed. “From the movie Home Alone. Well, technically he went to New York in Home Alone 2, but you get what I mean, right?”

Leave it to this kid to reference yet another movie that was made before he was born to make a point instead of just saying it outright. Tony blinked at him and shook his head. “What does that have to do with why you’re moping around instead of building sandcastles or tricking people into thinking you can surf even though you’re actually just sticking to the board?”

“It just...doesn’t feel like Christmas without snow and Christmas trees.”

Tony balked at him and gesticulated to the unnecessarily enormous tree he’d picked out with Peter in mind. “Did you not see the massive Christmas tree I got because I knew I’d have a certain spider child in the house? How is my Christmas tree not good enough for you?”

Peter blushed even more and shook his head. “No, the tree’s great, and I’m really glad you invited us to spend Christmas with you and Pepper! Really! May deserves this, and I don’t want to ruin it for her, I just—” He cut himself off and stood silent for a moment. He seemed to decide something, because then he was smiling, but Tony narrowed his eyes in suspicion at how forced it clearly was. Before Tony could question it, Peter started heading for the door. “You’re right, Mr. Stark. I’m going to go to the beach and build a sandcastle that’ll make this house look like a shack in comparison.”

“You wish, kid.” 

He returned the smile that Peter gave him, but it didn’t escape his attention that Peter’s shoulders were still slightly slumped as he walked out into the Malibu sunshine. Peter was heading in the direction of the private beach on the mansion property, and when Tony could no longer see Peter’s gelled hair, he bit at his lip as he considered something.

“Hey, F.R.I.D.A.Y., you still have those plans for last year’s Christmas party that I abandoned?”

“Of course, boss.”

“Great, get them all pulled up before I get to the lab.”

He rolled up the sleeves on his sweater as he jogged downstairs. He wasn’t sure how long he had before Peter came back to mope some more, but he didn’t imagine it was very long.

* * *

The walk back up from the beach gave Peter the chance to stew in his thoughts and let the happy smile he’d faked for May and Pepper slip. He’d done what he said and built an impressive sandcastle, sending the pictures to Tony and Ned along with elated-looking selfies. He’d also done a little swimming at May’s insistence, and then sat on beach chairs just chatting with Pepper and May. He’d enjoyed it, truly, but it just didn’t feel like Christmas.

He was incredibly happy that he’d been invited to spend Christmas with Tony and Pepper, since they were basically his other dad and mom. May had been thrilled at the prospect of getting to spend time on the beach, too, so he didn’t dare say that he didn’t want to go to Malibu. May worked way too hard and deserved more than a few days on the beach.

Still, he couldn’t help but think back on previous Christmases, when Ben was still alive. They’d look at all the Christmas window displays, ice skate and see the tree at Rockefeller Center, go shopping at the holiday market, and generally just enjoy seeing the city covered in snow. Then they’d go home and drink hot chocolate and curl up together to watch their favorite Christmas movies. While being with the people he loved was wonderful, it just didn’t feel like Christmas without the snow.

As he neared the mansion, he fixed his expression to something cheerful again. He didn’t want to worry Tony anymore. Even if he wasn’t in a festive mood, that didn’t mean he had to bring anyone else down with him.

When he walked back into the mansion, though, he was hit with a sudden blast of cold air that cut straight to the bone. Just as he was about to flee back outside to escape it, he was hit in the face with his coat and winter gear. He barely caught them in time, and he looked up in surprise to see the living room covered in what looked like snow and a bundled-up Tony standing in the middle of it.

“Hey, kid! Welcome to the Stark Winter Wonderland!”

Peter looked around, and it was then that he noticed various machines along the ceiling sending out a believable looking snowfall that coated the entire room. The massive Christmas tree was covered in a dusting of it, and tears sprang to Peter’s eyes as he took in the sight. Tony had done all of this for him, because he missed the white Christmas they would have had in New York.

He brushed the tears away, though, and he quickly pulled on his winter attire to join Tony on the floor in making snow angels.

* * *

“What in the world?”

May’s response to the scene in front of them was the polite version of what Pepper actually wanted to say as she took in the sight of their very expensive living room covered in snow. She’d just have to save those choice words for when she got Tony alone for a chat about what he’d done.

However, the sound of boisterous laughter cut through her quiet seething, and she looked up to see Peter duck behind the couch as a snowball sailed by, and he came up out of hiding to pelt Tony directly in the face with a snowball of his own. In response, Tony grabbed an armful of snow and dumped it on Peter’s head, who laughed and begged for mercy.

It was then that she looked beyond the disaster that was going to be the cleanup to see the remnants of snow angels that hadn’t quite been covered up by the snow from the ceiling, as well as multiple highly detailed snowmen in one corner. She couldn’t help but smile as Tony and Peter chased each other through the snow, occasionally throwing snowballs as well as snark at each other.

A tug on her arm broke her from her reverie, and she turned to see similar emotions on May’s face. May nodded towards the kitchen with a grin. 

“Those boys are going to want something warm when they’re done. Got any good cocoa recipes?”

“I make a mean cup of peppermint hot chocolate. Just give me a minute to change into something warmer.”

May agreed and headed up the stairs to change. Pepper took another moment to watch as Peter tackled a laughing Tony into a makeshift snowbank before she ran up the stairs with a warm feeling in her chest.


End file.
